How to Put On a Musical

Suggested Production Timeline

by John Kenrick
(Copyright 2003)

TIME UNTIL OPENING NIGHT:

12 to 8 months

 Create a budget
 Select show & purchase rights
 Reserve performance and rehearsal space
 Handle any fundraising

3 months

 Line-up a full production team

 Have tickets printed
 Confirm delivery date for scripts & scores

2 months

 Announce show & hold auditions

 Select musicians and all production teams
 Initiate Publicity (press releases, etc.)
 Begin program ad sales
 Order raw supplies (fabric, lumber, paint, etc.)

8 weeks

 Begin rehearsals
 Begin design and construction of sets & costumes

3 weeks

 Make sure all cast is "off book" - no more scripts

2 weeks

 Complete sets and costumes

 Have costumes fittings
  Run through Act I twice in one rehearsal
 Run through Act II twice in one rehearsal

1 week

 Hold Tech rehearsal

 Hold preliminary dress rehearsals

2 days

 Final dress rehearsal

1 day

 Break Day

The Production Team

by John Kenrick
(Copyright 2003)

 Producer
 Director
 Assistant Director
 Musical Director
 Choreographer
 Set Designer
 Costume Designer
 Lighting Designer/Manager
 Sound Designer/ Manager
 Stage Manager
 Stage Crew
 Property Master
 House Manager/Ushers
 Publicity Coordinator
 Program Coordinator

Take on too many jobs at once, and you will be overwhelmed –

share the challenge and you will have a stronger chance of sharing
credit for a success. Who will you need on your team?
Producer
The producer oversees all the business aspects of the production,
coordinating everything that does not involve the events on stage.
If you are lucky, this job goes to someone other than the director.
However, in many amateur organizations one person handles both
tasks. While it can be fun to imagine yourself as a neighborhood Hal
Prince, you'll get some princely headaches along the way.

Director
The director has the final say on all artistic aspects of a production,
and is in charge of everything that happens on stage. This person
must be a mixture of dictator, diplomat, artist, mind reader and drill
sergeant.

Example: At Higgins High, brave Ms. Doolittle is acting as both

producer and director. (Ah, what fools these mortals be . . .)

Assistant Director
Consider having an assistant director on your team. This takes
pressure off the director and means more than one set of
performers can rehearse at any time. While the director stages a
new scene with the ensemble, the assistant director can run the
leads through sequences that have already been blocked.

It is also a good idea for a director to have a production assistant to

coordinate schedules, organize papers, act as a go-fer, etc.

Example: Ms. Doolittle is not a total masochist. She has enlisted

one of her fellow English teachers to act as assistant director. She
also has a reliable student acting as a general production assistant.

Musical Director
You will want someone with musical knowledge to conduct
rehearsals and performances. Your accompaniment can be a full
orchestra or one person at a piano. Some licensing firms now
provide pre-recorded "rehearsal" accompaniment for certain shows
– even if you use these recordings, your cast will benefit from
having a capable musical director to guide them through the often
terrifying prospect of singing on stage.

Example: Mr. Pickering is the musical director, and has a

responsible senior who can play piano for rehearsals. His orchestra
will include some of his most talented students, as well as two
friends who teach in nearby schools.

Choreographer
If your show requires serious dancing, have someone on hand who
can make those dances look good, preferably someone with
professional training. You do not want dance numbers that expose
your cast to ridicule or possible injury.

Example: The dance requirements for Big River are simple. Even
so, Doolittle is bringing in a choreographer with professional dance
experience -- a local dance teacher who is willing to work for a
reasonable stipend.

Set Designer
Someone will have to design and build your sets or stage
decorations. In some theatre groups, the person in charge of sets is
called "Technical Director" and coordinates all tech teams. While I
don't find this useful, see what fits your team best. Make sure
everything on stage is sturdy. This is a point of safetyandesthetics.
Shaky sets will distract an audience and ruin a performance.

A word to set designers – do not let your creativity be limited by

what others have done. Scenery for any show can be as complex or
simple as your abilities and budget allow. My college director
placed Camelot on a unit castle set, with parapets and the all-
important tree always in view and the raked stage floor painted as a
giant chess board. Set changes consisted of moving a few small
props (chairs, tables, etc.). It was a creative, visually striking and
affordable approach that added to the impact of the production.
Example: The art department has come up with workable set
designs. The school's machine shop teacher is pitching in, making
the sets a project for his students. With some pointers from a book
on set building, they will create the backdrops and basic pieces
needed.

Costume Designer/Coordinator
If you have capable seamstresses and designers on hand, you are
blessed. When your show requires contemporary clothing, the cast
can provide its own. If you have to rent or borrow costumes, have
someone coordinate measurements, costume selection, alterations,
and costume maintenance.

Example: Pickering and Doolittle have found several mothers with

decent sewing skills to create the costumes. One volunteer mom is
acting as coordinator. She is so enthusiastic that she's even dug up
period illustrations and photos of the original Broadway production
to give her team ideas. The homespun, pre-Civil War outfits will be
easy to create. No hoopskirts or expensive fabrics are needed. They
may rent a few accessories, but most of the costume list will be
their own.

Lighting Designer
It takes tremendous patience to get the lights set properly and
safely. Have someone with technical expertise set up and maintain
your stage lighting system. If you have a qualified volunteer, three
cheers, but note the word "qualified." There is nothing more
dangerous than the inspired amateur. A licensed electrician should
check out your system to verify everything is safe.

Lighting Manager
This job may or may not be handled by your lighting designer. It
must be someone you can depend on to handle all the intricacies of
lighting every performance. For revues or small shows, you may be
able to get away with one simple lighting plan that merely turns on
and off. If so, enjoy it while you can.
Example: A local electrician with ties to the school is willing to put
in the time to hang the lights and train some students in running
them. He will also help out during the final tech rehearsal, and all
for a light $1000 stipend. For the hours involved, he could be
charging far more. (Don't be surprised if you have to pay a higher
fee for professional tech assistance.)

Sound Designer/Manager
If you are using any kind of sound system, you want someone
coordinating microphones and volume. This technical wizard will
supervise the sound levels during final rehearsals and
performances, preferably from a command post in the auditorium. A
sound crew will be needed backstage to assist with microphones.

Example: Mr. Karparthy, a teacher from a neighboring school, is

willing to help run the sound for Higgins High. Doolittle and
Pickering will owe him a favor when his next show comes around.
This is what colleagues are for.

Stage Manager
The SM is the director's right hand, assisting at rehearsals, setting
up materials and keeping the script on hand to call out any
forgotten lines. The SM also makes sure everything backstage goes
smoothly during performances. In fact, once a performance begins,
a director's works is done and the stage manager is the one in
charge. The SM orders the curtain up and down, and makes sure all
lighting and stage effects go off on cue. In many instances, the SM
or an assistant sits in the wings through each performance, ready to
quietly call out a line if one of the performers goes blank.

Example: Miss S. Pierce (one of Ms. Doolittle's students) is

organized, level headed, and well liked by her classmates. She is a
no-nonsense person who inspires respect, even from trouble makers
– the perfect choice for stage manager.

Stage Crew
It is not enough to line up some brawny volunteers to move sets
and work the main curtain. The stage crew has to be intelligent and
mature. Their backstage behavior can make or break a
performance, and their attention to detail is a major safety issue.
The old rule that only men or boys belong on a stage crew is way
out of date – this is definitely a co-ed department today.

Example: A few seniors well known for hell-raising offered their

services, but were politely turned away. Pierce and Ms. Doolittle
quietly put together a team of boys and girls who they feel
comfortable with.

Property Master
The prop master and his/her team are in charge of obtaining and
keeping track of all hand-held properties – swords, suitcases,
books, etc. What they cannot obtain, they will have to manufacture.
Props can be misplaced backstage, never to reappear. Prop stations
belong on both sides of the stage. Have the prop team at all dress
rehearsals to work out prop placement issues. If King Arthur is
entering stage right but Excalibur is waiting stage right, key scenes
in Camelot will be jeopardized.

Amateur productions often expect cast members to create and care

for their own props, and the results can be embarrassing. My
college theatre group had no prop team, and every run was plagued
with misplaced props. In our production of Carnival, I had to set off
a flash paper effect with a lit cigarette. On opening night, I
discovered the stage crew had inadvertently smoked my (I had
thought) well-hidden pack, and my entrance cue was in progress! In
desperation, I grabbed the flash paper and ate it, in full view of the
audience. I swore I'd never put an actor in the same position, and I
haven't.

Example: A student with a knack for details has volunteered for

this job. Her father is a professional carpenter, which won't hurt if
she needs to construct some period items.

House Manager/Ushers
The House Manager is more than a head usher. You want a level
headed "people person" in charge of seating the audience. Even if
you do not have assigned seating, have ushers on hand with
flashlights to help seat latecomers and find items lost in the dark. If
you are selling reserved tickets and your seats are not pre-marked,
the house manager is in charge of labeling the seats and rows.
Some magic marker on masking tape will do the trick. The train the
ushers to know the seating system in case any wise guys try to
move the seat markers around.

During performances, the House Manager keeps track of everything

that happens on the audience's side of the curtain, including box
office activity, seating, and letting the stage manager know when
the audience is ready for the performance to begin. If someone in
the audience has a complaint or becomes ill, ushers alert the house
manager – who will call 911 if needed.

Once, I was musical director for a school show and did not have a
house manager. On opening night, four people who had a grudge
against one of the performers started a disturbance. I had to stop
the performance and herd the troublemakers out of the auditorium.
The audience cheered and the show went on, but I made sure we
had another teacher acting as house manager for the next day's
performance.

Example: Students will act as ushers, with a senior as house

manager. The assistant principal has promised to be on hand during
performances to provide back up.

Publicity Coordinator
Once the posters, flyers and any similar items are ready, a publicity
coordinator will see to their being posted and/or distributed. This
person must make sure all postings are legal and authorized. Most
store managers will agree to allow a poster in their window or inside
their business, but an unauthorized posting will just engender bad
feelings. Outdoors, posters should be placed in accordance with any
local regulations. No show benefits from flyers torn down by angry
property owners.
Example: Enthusiastic senior Freddy Hill and a few volunteer
helpers will get the posters and flyers onto bulletin boards and into
shop windows, reaching potential ticket buyers on the streets where
they live.

Program Coordinator
A theatre program can be a simple sheet listing your cast and crew,
musical numbers, authors, etc. However, if you have someone with
a talent for organization and a flair for sales, advertisements can
turn your program into a source of income. Many local businesses,
community groups and politicos can be persuaded to buy program
ads. Family and friends of the cast also buy ads to wish their loved
ones luck. At the very least, this means you can have a handsome
program that pays for itself – with luck, it can pay for far more.

Do not use the black-on-yellow "Playbill" logo on your cover – it is

protected by copyright, and the folks at Playbill do not take
infringement lightly. Think they'll never find out? If you or any
member of the cast or crew has an enemy, or if your community
includes as least one righteous troublemaker, a copy of your
program will land on a desk in New York.

Example: Alfie, an enterprising Higgins sophomore with a flair for

sales, is canvassing local businesses and selling program ads at a
healthy clip. The art teacher has designed the program layout on
her computer, and the folks in the office will print it up on school
equipment. Alfie is coordinating their efforts, and expects the
programs to turn a profit . . . with a little bit of luck.